The Thrill of Victory…

Sunday nights for most of my childhood found our family gathered in the living room, poised to enjoy “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” I am dating myself with that line, and so are you if you recognize the quote. For almost three decades, ABC’s Wide World of Sports began with that iconic catchphrase. The thrill and the agony were matched with images from international sporting events. I don’t remember the clip for the thrill, but the image of agony is seared on most of our memories. In 1970, at a competition in Oberstdorf, West Germany, Slovenian ski jumper Vinko Bogataj veered off the end of the ramp. I saw that crash hundreds of times, and each time I saw him launched into the fencing on the side of the jump, I would cringe. Even now, the memory of his mangled pile of arms and legs makes my heart skip a beat. The moral of the story, there is no way to seek the thrill of victory without risking the agony of defeat.

For the last two weeks, many of us have gathered around our TVs and streaming devices watching athletes seek victory, yet at times finding only defeat. I think of our talented ice-skating team, arriving in Milan with great hopes of bringing home many gold medals for the US. Our men’s hopeful, Ilia Malinin, two-time world champion, born and raised in Virgina, had adopted the nickname “Quad God” to signify his strength in completing successive quad jumps, the most in any skater’s program. [One has to wonder at the arrogance of claiming such a moniker.] But, on his big night, the pressure of Olympic ice was bigger than the nickname. He experienced the agony of one fault after the next. Imagine having to wait for your score after such a failed attempt, with the eyes of the world on your face. The agony of defeat… But then came the women’s night, with our “Blade Angels” as they called themselves. Alysa Liu was this year’s surprise on the team. She left competition after the last Olympics because of the pressure. At 16, she wanted to find the life she was missing while she trained for victory. Alysa decided to return to the ice last year, bringing a more mature, calm, peaceful demeanor that allowed her to shine on Olympic ice, enabling her to bring home the gold. The thrill of victory… What a joy to watch Ilia in the stands cheering on his teammate with zeal! He did not let the agony of defeat be the last word in his Olympic experience.

I think of our skiers and bobsledders who risk life and limb to find that thrill of victory. Imagine hurtling down a bobsled course at speeds over 90 mph… or skiing down a slope at 80+ mph… one wrong turn can be devastating. Lindsey Vonn has known that agony of defeat more than most, finding herself just 13 seconds into her race for gold last week, flipped and broken and quickly airlifted off the slope. Her leg was so badly mangled that doctors almost had to amputate. But, from her hospital bed she declared that seeking victory was worth risking even the agony of defeat.

How fun to watch our ice hockey teams, both men and women, going for gold. The race was tight, the competition especially from Canada was daunting. Yet we emerged victorious. What a special moment to see our men’s team posing for their victory picture. They carried with them the jersey of their teammate Johnny Gaudreau, who lost his life last year to a hit-and-run drunk driver. As they gathered for the picture, they welcomed onto the ice his two children. They are too young to understand the importance of that picture, and how missed their father was in this gold medal run. But one day, that picture will show them the thrill of victory even in the face of the agony of loss. If you watched the medal ceremony for the men’s hockey team, you also discovered that our guys are not musically talented… but they were loud and proud as they sang the national anthem. I hope we all listened to their musical declaration that we were formed to be the “Land of the free and the home of the brave.” What a responsibility we all have to live out that calling.

Watching the competitions, I was reminded of how many times St. Paul uses the image of a race to describe our journey of faith. 

Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…
let us fix our eyes on Jesus… so that we will not grow weary or lose heart.
Hebrews 12:1-3
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
II Timothy 4:8
Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
I press on toward the goal to win the prize
for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
You were running a good race.
Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?
Galatians 5:6-7
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?
Run in such a way as to get the prize.
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.
They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
I Corinthians 9:24-25

In Paul’s day, the race champions received a wreath of olive leaves as a crown of victory. How quickly those leaves would turn brown and fall into the rubbish heap. But the crown of righteousness that God gives, is one that lasts for eternity. That victory has already been won for us by our Savior. His victory is greater than all the defeats we will ever experience in this world. May we live as His champions, shining with His glory, singing His praises loud and proud.

With you, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith,
Anita